Schloss Leesdorf, Heritage château in Baden, Austria

Schloss Leesdorf is a two-storey castle in Baden, entered through a wrought-iron gate, over a stone bridge and past a Baroque basket-arch portal into a rectangular courtyard. The former moat was filled in and partly planted with trees in the 1850s, and three of the four corner towers were reduced to wall height. It stands between the Schwechat and the Badener Mühlbach and today houses the HTL painting school.

The site was first recorded in 1114 as a medieval water fortress, and later transformed into a Baroque-style castle in the early 1700s. This conversion from a functional defense structure to a residential palace marked a major shift in its purpose and appearance.

Since 1948 the castle has housed a master school for the painting trade, founded by the Viennese painters' guild, which leased the building from the Hartmann sisters after they recovered it. A rental contract with the guild of painters, varnishers and lacquerers followed in 1971. Today the site is the HTL Baden higher technical school with its painting school.

The castle operates as a technical school today and parking is available along the main street nearby. Since the site functions as an active school, it is best to inquire in advance about visiting possibilities and access to the grounds.

The moat of the former water castle was already silted up when the lawyer Stanislaus Neumister bought the estate on 1 May 1852; he had the swampy ditch filled in and partly planted with trees, and replaced the old wooden bridge with a stone one. Three of the four corner towers were also lowered to the height of the perimeter wall.